(26) And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not. (27) And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
It may be said of Joab as of Abner, bloody men were they both. What an awful picture, in all eyes, do such characters afford of the dreadful fall of man!